November 25, 2009

Mobile Data Surges, Says Opera

Mobile data traffic in October grew to the fastest rate in seven months, Internet browser company Opera Software said Wednesday.

The Oslo, Norway-based company said nearly 40 million people used Opera Mini last month, representing more than 11 percent growth in a single month.

Meanwhile, page-views and data transfers grew at an even faster rate in October.

The company said 39.6 million people viewed 17.2 billion pages in October. Page-views have increased 14.8 percent since September and 238 percent since October of last year.

The company said the top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage are Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Poland and Vietnam.

The top ten countries using Opera Mini in Latin America are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay and Ecuador, the company said in a statement.

"Because Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90%, people everywhere can reduce the amount they pay each month for mobile data," said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner.

"By making the Web accessible and affordable on mobile devices, we can usher in a communications revolution on an unprecedented scale. Opera Mini is helping to spur this change "” potentially affecting the lives of billions "” not just by making mobile browsing possible, but by making it affordable, as well."